Draft Day Mega-Thread

The MLS draft commences at 2 p.m. ET. ESPN2's live coverage is for the first hour only. Beyond that, there is no video available (on TV or online). So please join the Insider as well as the league's website all afternoon for pick-by-pick details of the four-round event.

My plan is to update this thread immediately after each selection and when trades are announced, though I'll probably bail out on the instant updates after the second round except for D.C. United's moves. I will use the continuation of this thread (click the little link at the bottom) for quotes and other news. I welcome your pre-draft, in-draft and post-draft thoughts.

*Victor MacFarlane, D.C. United's co-managing partner, tells me that he has not had any recent discussions with the city government about the Poplar Point stadium project but that the club continues to pursue a deal. (Do you know the way to Greenbelt?) UPDATE: I hear there are issues with the land developers in Greenbelt and that other potential venues are being explored. (sigh)

*FC Dallas Coach Schellas Hyndmann says he has been approached about former MVP Christian Gomez, but does not think his club will acquire him from Colorado.

*DCU seems certain to keep its two first-round picks, figuring they are going to land quality players without moving up. My hunch is that Maryland's Omar Gonzalez will be the top overall pick in the draft, but we'll find out for sure very soon.

*RSL will join DCU at the Charleston preseason tournament in March.

*Duke's Mike Grella is on trial at Leeds but will probably be drafted. Unlike Marcus Tracy, who has a contract with Aalborg, Grella is not locked into a deal.

*The top three players who DCU figured might be available at No. 6 and 7 were Wallace, Pontius and Alston. They obviously went with the first two. Alston said he had heard rumors that DCU might claim him, but didn't know for sure where he would end up.

UPDATE: DCU was also strongly considering Frei, but decided to wait on a goalie until the second round and chose Loyola (Md.) standout Milos Kocic, who is a 6-4 Serb with a 1.04 goals against average in three seasons with the Baltimore-based Greyhounds.

DCU President Kevin Payne, on the draft: "It's a pretty deep group. If Tracy and Grella had been in it, it might have been the best draft ever. Or certainly one of them. But as it was, it was still a very strong draft. It's got some real depth. Everybody's predictions what the first round was going to look like ended up being a little bit wrong. Usually it's fairly self-evident who the top five or six guys are going to be. This time, any combination of the first nine or 10 picks would not have surprised anybody. A lot of us didn't think Zakuani was going to be the first pick; that really changed the dynamic for the rest of the draft when he went first instead of someone like Gonzalez."

So, has any team actually improved this off season? Baffling moves in NY/NJ, baffling non-moves in DC and other places. After the last 8 years of religiously devouring the MLS minutae, I can solemnly say this winter has been the least interesting for me.

This is a little off topic but has anybody weighed in on the naming of the new Philly franchise? All the proposed names AC, FC, Philadelphia City are lame. There has to be a better solution. I am not to keen on the AYSO type names like Galaxy, Fire of Redbulls but there has to be something with a little more character.

'Landon-lite' is MIKE MAGEE .. .. He has the same game as Landon .. .. A tweener who might be best running just behind the strikers .. .. Quick, pretty techinical and can use either foot .. .. Just like Landon .. ..

I am way too excited about this draft. Five of the Terps' starting 11 should be drafted by mid-second round.

I am particularly interested in whether the combine allowed AJ Delagarza to convince some MLS Scouts that he's worth a second look. I don't think he has gotten nearly enough credit for Maryland's success and that folks tend to look at his height and then focus (unfairly) on Gonzalez while ignoring everything AJ does on the pitch.

I hope that's the only time I have to read the word "tweener" today. I fear it won't be true. It's a dumb description of soccer players, and it also irritates me as a term to describe middle schoolers.

What pick did LA give up for Kovalenko? Was it a 2010 pick? I haven't seen clarification on that yet.

From Goff's article: "United needs depth at almost every position, and while the front office continues to pursue Honduran forward Walter Martinez and an unidentified foreign defender, the team will look to the draft for support players."

Anybody have any insight into who this might be? Additionally, anybody have any insight into why United's FO is wasting their time on yet another foreign defender after their recent flameouts?

Yeah, that's also confusing. There are conflicting reports. SG and goal.com both mention a draft pick, Ives does not.

As for bringing up tweener immediately after I showed my disdain for it...well, I walked into that, didn't I?

Kenobi:

Where are we going to get a good defender right away? Within MLS, it would take a king's ransom to get anyone that is as good as what we need. There simply aren't defenders teams want to trade that will do the job well enough for us. Unless we can acquire a foreign-based American, we have little choice but to look for an international center back to fill the hole.

The Salt Lake Tribune says RSL gets a 2011 pick that will be determined by Kovalenko's performance in LA.

I hope the good people of St. Louis know to boo when the draft time out is used by someone (always seems to be LA). In fact, I'd say my willingness to support their expansion bid rides on it (thus far, I haven't really liked any of the choices).

Chest:
Fair enough, but an easy alternative would be to trade up today and grab someone like Gonzalez who could conceivably step into the lineup pretty quickly. Less money, possibly more upside, and he doesn't fill a foreign roster spot.

I would have no problem with us moving up to get Gonzalez. I would, however, have a problem if Soehn and Kasper think he's ready to start from opening day. I feel like he's going to need most of the season to really adjust. Also, the nerve center of the Terps back four was Delagarza. With our current crop of defenders lacking a vocal leader, I think we'd see a lot more of the same unforced errors paring Gonzalez and Janicki or McTavish (since none of them is the defensive leader we need).

Maybe people saw something in Frei that the pundits at the combine didn't. Other than his GA status, I see absolutely no reason to go nuts like this. I liked the idea of taking Frei, but the reactions here are basically those of an angry mob gathering torches and pitchforks. Seems like wild overreaction to me. I guess that's what the internet is for, but still.

Hall to NY. I feel bad for my fellow Terps going to such clearly dastardly teams

I would imagine it's because both Namoff and McTavish are best at right back. Alston was going to have to exceed expectations quite a bit to ever see time, and it's not like Namoff and McTavish are about to retire.

People too mature for the Party Boy references: I imagine Pontius the soccer player is sicker of it than you are.

Why does New England pick a wing-project like Maxwell when they already have Nyassi? That seems odd ... considering that their backline includes guys like Albright and Heaps (not getting any younger) and potentially Laurentowicz (if Valentino is not ready to partner Badilla).

Just a hunch, but I'm wondering if RSL didn't get the steal of the draft? A midfielder with 23 goals? Even if it's against Div II competition, that's impressive. Plus, he's been capped by the Haitian national side...

DC signed veteran player Roland Burris -- finally making his jump up the big leagues, after a career toiling in lower leagues around Illinois. Besides being near the end of his career, this was a controversial signing -- and there had been talk that the league would void the deal. With Burris now in place DC's roster is almost complete. The final roster spot may go to a Jewish kid from Minnesota, who is switching careers..but, in reverse. He's going from the broadcast booth, to the playing field. Should be an interesting team to watch.

We took Wallace. The only other MD player in this draft still available when we were up that fit for DC was Hall. Delagarza would either have to win a spot over Namoff and McTavish or be Parkhurst II to be a good pick for us. Zusi is an attacking mid/2nd forward, positions DC traditionally use on foreign stars.

Lyle Adams to DC. More speed. I'm really surprised he fell this far. Even though it'll be hard for him to see time at right back (though this might signal that McTavish will be a center back no matter how much we dislike it), I think this is a case of taking the best available player.

If you don't know what I'm talking about Pachucas owner says he's secured an MLS franchise in Orlando. I'm sure all the groups that are in the competitive bidding process were interested to hear of this development.

I don't think it's as bad as I say, though that part of my mind that despises rationality and logic thinks this draft could've been much better for DCU. I've seen Wallace and Kocic play, and I think they're great talents. Pontius has the ability to be a good forward in MLS. And I don't want Kasper nor Soehn terminated at this time.

But that irrational part of my mind still says "We could've performed better".

Plus, I wanted to see if I was capable of writing hyperbole and having it regarded as (admittedly poor) humor.

I'm sure the other consideration in the MLS Draft that doesn't appear in other sports drafts' is that you're not just taking the best player at the position you need - you're taking the balance of that with a kid who's likely to make the team and sign with the league.

TFC takes Grella. They're done for the day in terms of actual drafting. If he can't sign in Europe and comes back, this has the potential to be the best draft by a team in MLS history. If not, I doubt Johnston bats an eye.

One more pick and we're back up. Anyone at MLS HQ starting to get worried that Danny Cruz will go undrafted?

1. The McTavish as center back experiment will very likely be continuing this year.
2. DC has taken what I'm guessing is the best available player in their eyes 2 rounds in a row. We're probably not doing anything else during this draft. I wonder if Soehn and Kasper will literally leave like Johnston and co. did midway through the 3rd round last year.

@ Chest -- I don't noticed that -- I was wondering how Hall slipped so far. This may be the most comical pick since Bret Saberhagen was taken in the 5th round of the SMABL fantasy baseball league draft in 2001.

Surely, MLS should have saved the Red Bulls from taking someone already selected.

What I mean is that we stopped looking for players to fill any specific hole down the depth chart. It stopped being about "let's grab the best forward/center back/keeper left" and more about "let's take the best player period".

I don't think we passed up on Hall as much as just preferred Wallace and Pontius.

Purple line progress...that's a positive.

jason1551:

Pickens is an improvement over Coundoul and Burpo, but I still don't think of him as anything more than an average MLS keeper.

I pretty much agree with all of that. I'd also be slightly concerned if I was Khumalo, since Pontius can play up front or on the wing (and Khumalo takes up a foreign player slot). I don't know enough about Barklage to judge, but I'd assume it's going to be tough for him to find a space in midfield, since that's our only area of depth.

I think Doe is safer than Khumalo, though I think you're right in saying he's not 100% safe due to his inconsistency. When Doe is on, he's clearly more threatening than Khumalo, and I think his potential is greater. However, when he's off, we might as well have Dyachenko out there. Khumalo is pretty consistent, but I am not sold on him ever being more than a role player anywhere in MLS.

RSL just took a 26 year old in Futhi Bhembe. MLS doesn't even know where he's from beyond playing at that traditional NCAA powerhouse, Alabama A&M.